After Senate Republicans made it clear on Monday that they have no intention of investigating Russia’s influence and or relationship with Republican Donald Trump, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer took to the floor Tuesday to try to shame Republicans into actually caring about Russia’s attack on their country by citing the founding fathers warning us about foreign interference.
“The Founding Fathers in their wisdom wrote in the Constitution that we had to worry about foreign interference,” Schumer warned on the Senate floor. “It’s happening now in a way that it has never happened before.”
“Mr. President, both parties here in Congress should be focused on the threat posed by Russia’s hacking activities and their attempts to influence foreign elections, especially ours,” Schumer said in floor remarks sent to PoliticusUSA.
“Make no mistake about it: these cyber-attacks won’t be limited to any one party or president… Whatever is good for Russia at the moment, whatever hurts the United States the most, that’s what he will pursue.”
“Director Clapper testified that Russia likely feels ’emboldened’ to continue their hacking activities given their success at disrupting our 2016 elections,” the Democrat continued, trying to rouse a hidden morsel of patriotism from his colleagues on the other side of the aisle.
“He said, ‘If there has ever been a clarion call for vigilance and action against a threat to the very foundation of our democratic political system, this episode is it. I hope the American people recognize the severity of this threat and that we collectively counter it before it further erodes the fabric of our democracy.’”
“I couldn’t agree more with Mr. Clapper. I hope these hearings are just the start of a bipartisan discussion about how to combat these efforts and safeguard the integrity of our elections. Democrats and Republicans should join together, pick out what Russia has done to us in the past, and how we prevent it from happening in the future. Again, as Director Clapper said, the very foundation of our democracy is at stake. The Founding Fathers in their wisdom wrote in the Constitution that we had to worry about foreign interference. It’s happening now in a way that it has never happened before. And in a bipartisan way, we must act.”
A valiant effort by Senator Schumer, but let’s face it. Republicans aren’t buying.
Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday made it clear they were not there to discuss Russia. Instead, they asked questions about leaks to the press about the Trump camp’s ongoing contacts and possible collusion with Russia. They asked questions about Hillary Clinton’s emails (oh, yes, really). They asked questions about Yates refusing to defend Trump’s immigration executive order (the “Muslim ban”), which she said she found unlawful.
But none of those questions addressed the elephant in the room. That is that Russia might well be in control of our government right now. They interfered in the 2016 election, they will interfere in the next one unless they are stopped.
Republicans might feel like they are safe as Putin’s dirty acts of war helped them so who cares that he’s attacking the U.S.A. Or perhaps, given that they were also hacked, they are unable to do the right thing for their country because they are also compromised.
Either way, Republicans are not doing the right thing for their country. The only way to deal with this is to vote them out in 2018 as an act of patriotism.
If Republicans will not appoint an Independent Counsel or independent investigation to look into the possible collusion with Russia, they shouldn’t be in office.
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Connect with Sarah on Post, Mastodon @PoliticusSarah@Journa.Host, & Twitter.
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